wooly

Very nice! I've always liked that pose best!

Take your time and cook 'em slow. Be as meticulous as possible getting all the flesh out of the nooks and crannies. Degrease your skull thoroughly and when it's looking good, degrease it again before you begin the whitening process. If it's not degreased propperly the oils will begin to seap through turning your skull yellow in a short time.

As some here know, I already picked up a fresh match set of sheds from a nice 8pt earlier in the week. That just got me thinking....... this is only for the sake of conversation and curiosity for me and not a decision I need to make. Wondering who would purposely target a buck like this with no antlers if you still had an antlerless tag and already had his horns? .....OR Who would continue to hunt doe knowing some bucks may already be antlerless and mistaken for doe? I know it's not a dillema we're faced with every day, so I thought the responces might be interesting.

Don't forget to lick the plate good!

Hey, at least they sent you one. I'm sure some companies would have tried to pass it off as wear and tear or user neglect. Maybe I caught them at the right time. They probably don't get as many returns durring the middle of hunting season. Maybe that would explain the speedy service, I dunno. No... lol, not kidding

Man, that doesn't surprise me one bit! Hope he stays safe long enough to drop the other side for ya. I'd hate to hear he got popped by someone thinking he's a doe. Now where was I...... 12-14-12 Headed out early this morning to move the cams around and continue the search for "side B"! I finally got them all where I wanted them to be and got back to horn huntin'! For now, my main goal was to hit this bedding area where I found the first antler. I just had a feeling the mate was somewhere near bye if I could stay focused and not get discouraged looking through this dense cover. Unfortunately, my first find of the day was another dead buck. I'd been finding fresh leg bones and hair that the yotes had spread out in the area but could never find the carcass. I never did find it, instead I located the skull with part of the spine that must have gotten dragged away. A burly little 6pt. He'd been there a while and was really cleaned up right down to the brains. Most likely from early archery sometime or roadkilled....dunno....don't care. I packed him up and headed back down to kill the day trying to complete my first set of the season. It didn't take long before I saw that big bone-white arch laying ahead of me! I couldn't decide which camera to use for the ATL so here's a few from both to give you an idea of what this area is like! ... and a shot of the base. No blood on this one either but they don't get much fresher than this. ... and here's the days haul with yesterdays mate! Antlers- 2 Dead bucks- 2 Match sets- 1 Dead doe and fawns- 0

This sound a little extreme don't ya think,lol? How 'bout ya send him a nice Christmas card and a bottle of booze to take the edge off!

Just wanted to give a shout out to the folks at Primos Hunting for backing their products with exceptional customer service! As some of you may recall, I was experiencing some battery life issues with my Primos Truth Cam Blackout(60) a few weeks ago. Besides that, I've been extremely happy with this camera. When I couldn't perform the fix myself, I submitted a simple online request for a repair or replacement camera to Primos. They promptly sent me a return address number(RA#) and instructions to return it back to them. They then immediately notified me when the returned camera was recieved and again when my replacement was being shipped 2-3 days after. Never once did they mention repairing it. Today (2 wks total time from claim submission) I received my brand spankin' new.., no hassle replacement! Their service was OUTSTANDING in my opinion, especially after hearing some of the horror stories others have had with other trail camera manufacturers! ...and they even sent me a free sticker,lol Buy Primos, be happy!

Yes sir, make sure that pooch of your has a fresh flea collar on! Might be pickin' tics after a few horns find him.

Some guys just don't get it Mike.

I agree with you on that erussell, but you have to look at the weather leading up to this point and future, not just in the now. It's safe to say we've been very mild lately compared to years past, but lets not forget about this summers drought conditions. Dang creeks turned into rock piles.., plots into deserts.., and swamps into prarie grasslands. Just a few ideal locations where rainfall was non existant, in essence affecting prime browse locations stressing these bucks going into the season. Not to mention the poor mast that G-man was talking about. If we get hit with a good pile of snow here anytime soon, you're gonna see these bucks dropping faster than the flakes themselves...antlers and winterkill. They'll gather around any food source they can find even if it's not prime and use it up in no time forcing them to hunker down to expend less energy... or go off on a long venture till they find food elsewhere. That second option can have deadly consequences if it happens durring a severe cold snap or snow so deep it expends all a bucks energy to get from point A to point B. A lot of guys tend to think I'm over reacting about all this and that's ok. I'm just speaking from what I know is happening/ has happened in my woods already this year and what to expect in the coming months any way it shapes up.

Sounds good bro! I've already got a pretty good game plan for us on a few different spots we can check out. There's actually a bit of technique to this instead of just blind hiking. You'll see after we get out a few times. It aint so hard to catch on and take what you learn back to your own woods with some sucess.

I think we're gonna see a lot of early finds this year! Good news for shed hunting, but maybe not such a good thing the deer are stressed so early. It's still very early Stretcher Guy, BUT they can drop them anytime now untill late March that I've seen around here.

12-12-12 Well guys, I don't know what to say! Some days I guess it's best to say nothing at all and let the pictures do the talking. If anyone still wants to tell me that these deer here aren't in for a tough few winter months ahead in my area....... I'm all ears! I hiked around for 6hrs today when I stumbled upon this guy right around 3pm. I don't know if he's still holding the other half or not so I didn't disturb the area too much. Not that it really matters at this point. I've been through here an awefull lot lately while hunting, photographing, and checking cams in this overgrown goldenrod field. Anyhow, the first antler of the new season is in the books and it aint half bad! Even got a cam pic of the ol' boy! The ATL with the antler laying right in a fresh bed! No blood on the base. I'm guessing he dropped this one earlier in the week or maybe last week before the rain. You can see the wax ring and there was still a little hair on the base. Shed antlers- 1 Dead bucks- 1 Dead does and fawns- 0

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but that thing, (also looks like you caught it in your last pic in the bottom left corner) looks like a straight up pigglet.

Such a sentimental thread, I hate to ruin it... Me- too simple! Sneaking up on 40 now, I miss firm boobs, tucked tummies, and tight buttocks.... maybe just the company I keep these days, but a guy can dream about the birthday party he'll never get to see again,lol

Absolutely NOT just a rifle problem. I can tell you with 100% certainty this happens all the time in slug country as well. I see a lot of this especially around field edges and the surrounding woods a few hundred yds in. My guess is that many of these field deer get shot, and with the lack of landmarks in a field setting, often the exact spot the deer was standing is incorrect leading to no sign of a hit or the wrong spot entirely to begin taking up a trail. Alot of dead deer I find in the closest thickets off the fields where there are stands or blinds on the edge. Heck, many of them die right out in the open woods which really makes you wonder how that deer went unrecovered. The wrong starting point to a bloodtrail is the most likely culprit I can think of.

Lol- the ink aint even dry on that thing John!

Lookin' forward to a few hikes with ya this year Red! I'm ready whenever you are! We'll go find that big Emery bucks horns first,lol

I suppose it's time to fire up my annual shed season journal. Now that hunting seasons winding down, I'll be getting out to hike whenever possible. I'm not really expecting to come close to last years numbers but I'm gonna try like hell! I'm pretty sure I left off last years updates with antlers #39 and #40, but I added 2 more unexpected oldies to the list durring August and September that I'll start off with here. This first little 2pt side I found while helping my sister cut down some trees at her place over summer. I grabbed a bunch of branches and hauled them into the woods 20ft off the side of her driveway. Sis came along with an armfull and just about burried this little horn for good before I scooped it up in amazement! #41 was a late summer reward after a hard days work! This next antler I found while checking cams in September on a ridge I'd been down many times leading up to this find. It was hidden pretty well and dissapearing even more with the new falling leaves. Just one problem with this antler. After finding it and heading home, I stopped to break and snapped a few more pics. Once I got back on the trail, I realised I had forgot my antler. I turned around and looked and looked but still haven't found this one again,lol. It's high on my list of horns to find AGAIN before the snow starts flying! That leads us now to the first hike of 2013.... even though it's still 2012. I decided my first hike to check out a thicket close to home that greened up on me too quick last year before my final hike through it. I don't think I missed any but I did find my first dead buck of the season. Hoping to have frequent updates once the freshies start falling, but untill then, plenty of oldies and deadheads out there to keep me occupied! Good luck to all the shed hunters this season!

You only need to do that with buck tags Steve! Makes them tougher to swallow and leaves a bitter taste in your mouth if you let them go any longer

Too bad they're not water activated. All my boots leak,lol

I dunno about this one. One would think that once a population is already established, that controlling their #'s would be top priority. Short of eradication through whatever means, I think you would only be creating optimal conditions for the survivors of a species to flourish.

This is all I do anymore with no contamination... well, maybe a drop. At that point any leftovers wont be of any concern while processing.

Nice late season buck! Congrats!